Video Games
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Positive Effects of Video Games: An Alternate Perspective
Video games may seem to be the bane of the modern world. The fact that many intensely coveted games are very violent leads to the assumption that the playing of such games produces individuals who are themselves violent (Teng, Chong, Siew, & Skoric, 2011). Video games’ effect on the human psyche is a field that has not been extensively researched, although it has been the topic of hours of media coverage and speculation (Wei, Toh, & Huang, 2009). With all the hype, it seems as though these video games are the media’s latest “bane of society” boogeyman. Is gaming really as irredeemable as the media portrays?
Games in the Media
Media appears to focus exclusively on the negative, and the research that has been done seems to confirm every parent’s worst fears. Allowing one’s child to play the newest Call of Duty, Mario Party or Final Fantasy game, claim these reports, will ruin said child for life. Games have been correlated with increased aggressive thoughts and behavior (Carnagey & Anderson, 2005) as well as making children more prone to delinquency (Hopf, Huber, & Weiß, 2008). Another study has shown that an individual’s attitudes toward acceptance of violence do increase from regular exposure to violent video games, especially in males (Teng et al., 2011).
Considering all this researched and verifiable data, it seems that the final, damning nail has been hammered into the coffin of video games’ potential as a worthy and reputable pastime. Do games have anything constructive to offer society?
Types of Video Games
There are different types of interactions one can expect in a particular video game: pro-social and neutral games as well as antisocial/aggressive/violent ones. The studies mentioned above correlating video games with violence have focused mainly on violent game types. This data cannot be extrapolated to suggest that the other types are likewise detrimental- neutral and pro-social games are not as harmful to social interactivity as are the violent type.
There are also many different classifications of games available to the interested player: first-person shooter, puzzle, turn-based strategy, real-time strategy and role-playing comprise a hardly exhaustive list. Many of those who play games enjoy several different types. Numerous games combine two or more classifications and all have separate classification and type (e.g. first-person shooter/violent, puzzle/pro-social, etc.)
Pro-social Gaming
Pro-social games require the player to cooperate either with another player or character in order to accomplish game objectives. Greitemeyer and Osswald (2010) researched how people react to social situations after playing pro-social, neutral and aggressive games; they found that playing pro-social games increases the likelihood that a subject will help with a social task, such as helping someone pick up spilled pencils, intervening on the behalf of a harassed woman or volunteering for an unpaid project.
What if games are used as devises for family bonding? As the generation who grew up playing video games has children of their own, co-playing becomes a valid family activity (Coyne, Padilla-Walker, Stockdale, & Day, 2011), and many games have multi-player modes that allow for parents and siblings to play along. Coyne et al. (2011) conducted a study on teenagers who co-played with their parents. The teenaged girls were found to have greater access to pro-social thoughts, less internalization, and a more positive filial relationship overall from co-playing video games in a family setting, while co-playing appeared to have had little effect on their male peers.
This brings up an important point: in many studies on the effects of video games- especially of the violent variety- on children and teenagers, girls are lumped together with boys. They are often tested together against a combined-sex control group, as in the Teng et al. (2011) study mentioned earlier. In that study, it was mentioned that “males…were more likely to endorse attitudes towards violence than females”. This wording suggests that statistically, female attitudes towards violence did increase from playing violent video games. Running an independent t-test on the data given in that study, one finds that attitudes towards violence are not significantly different, t (77) = .448, p = .65, two-tailed. Girls who played violent video games (M = 2.43, SD = .64) do not have more accepting attitudes towards violence that those who played a neutral game for the same amount of time (M = 2.37, SD = .55). Both this study and Coyne et al. (2011) demonstrate that researchers should not combine data for males and females- especially adolescents- together when studying the effects of video games. It may even be suggested that males and females should be studied separately, as they do not react similarly to playing video games.
Learning
Aside from the social aspects of gaming, approaches to learning can benefit from video games. Learning occurs whether the intention to learn is present or not (Reisberg, 2009). An anecdotal example: 28-year-old Paxton Galvanek, upon witnessing a car crash, pulled a pair of strangers from their vehicle and performed proper first aid (Cavalli, 2008). Mr. Galvanek had never had any formal medical training or experience- instead, he had logged hours of playing America’s Army, a video game that features realistic first aid and combat medic training. Whether he had intended to learn these skills or not, he did learn them and was equipped to put them to productive use when confronted with a crisis situation.
Education.
Studies have also shown that learning occurs efficiently in video games. Repetition of a gaming task (Hamlen, 2012), hands-on involvement and consistent and immediate rewards are all known motivators of deep cognitive processing (Reisberg, 2009), and are strong points of the video game learning experience. These factors may encourage learning where traditional teaching systems fail (Mayo, 2009). Students may be spurred to seek information from learning venues outside the game- such as books, websites or a teacher- to solve in-game problems. Games might also spark an interest in or love of fields currently in demand, such as science, mathematics or technology (Mayo, 2009).
As the technology of the medical field advances, so too must those who practice medicine. There are already procedures available that utilize apparatuses with controls similar to game controllers- colonoscopy and laparoscopy, among others (Wikipedia contributors, 2012). Additionally, the same skills honed in video games (visuo-spatial tasks, hand-eye coordination, reaction time, etc.) are essential for medical professionals, especially surgeons (Kato, 2010). Games have been developed that help lead medical students in learning how to recognize symptoms and manage patient care options. These games will help them perform better in internships (Kato, 2010).
Patient Care and Therapy
Patients who feel disconnected from their treatment are less likely to continue care (Ceranoglu, 2010). Young patients are especially at risk, as no treatment can be considered “fun” (Kato, 2010). Video games can help bridge the gap between need and desire, motivating children and adolescents to understand their illnesses and comply with their treatments (Kato, 2010).
Hospital Care
Video games can also be utilized to help doctors enable patients (especially young patients) to manage their medical care. Video games have been shown to be able to distract patients from the side effects of various treatments (Kato, 2010). Many treatments and procedures are known to have adverse effects- chemotherapy from cancer causes nausea, anxiety and pain; preoperative children are known to have an increase in anxiety ; and patients who are undergoing burn care experience a significant amount of pain (Hoffman et al., 2008). All the subjects tested with video games were children, who have very little to keep them occupied in a hospital environment, as well as being confined in a finite space. Additionally, cancer patients often have low energy (Kato, 2010) and burn treatment patients must minimize their movements in order to receive burn debridement, which can be a painful procedure (Hoffman et al., 2008). Video games require little energy or motion, and can help distract patients from their circumstances by giving them another environment to project themselves into. In separate studies, it was found that commercial video games are more effective in distracting patients and thereby reducing the perceived pain, nausea and anxiety that frequently afflict young cancer patients than non-digital (e.g., books, board games or television) distractions and was more feasible than therapy (Redd et al., 1987; Vasterling, Jenkins, Tope, & Burish, 1993). Hand-held video games distracted preoperative children from their anxiety just as well as sedatives (Patel et al., 2006), and a custom-made video game proved effective in distracting the burn patients from their debridement (Hoffman et al., 2008).
Self-Care Instruction
Many chronic illnesses have management procedures that can be cumbersome until they become habit, especially for children (Kato, 2010). By involving children in their own care, they increase their own knowledge of their disease and become empowered in its treatment. Custom-made games such as Packy and Marlon for juvenile diabetes (Brown et al., 1997), Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus for asthma (Lieberman, 2001) and Re-Mission for cancer (Kato, Cole, Bradlyn, & Pollock, 2008) put patient self-care information into a game format, where it is more easily accessible to children and adolescents. These games have been found to be effective in increasing patients’ understanding of their illness and increasing the likelihood of forming good habits, such as consistently taking their medicine (Brown et al., 1997; Kato et al., 2008; Lieberman, 2001).
Physical Therapy
Stroke victims often find themselves partially paralyzed. In order to regain this lost muscle control, they must regularly attend physical therapy (Saposnik et al., 2010). This exercise can become tedious and costly. With the advent of motion-based interfaces for console gaming, these activities can be sourced to the home, making them a one-time purchase cost instead of the session plus travel to the facility costs of physical therapy. Stroke victims showed a significant improvement in motor function by using a motion-based game, comparable to those who engaged in more traditional therapy methods (Saposnik et al., 2010). With the variety of games available commercially- which allows a player to select for his or her interests- this is a viable alternative to regular physical therapy.
Psychotherapy
Video games can be useful in psychotherapy as well. Older children and adolescents are often difficult for therapists to reach (Ceranoglu, 2010). Counselors can use video games to access the thoughts of these recalcitrant patients. Counselors have long used toys or board games to help patients feel more connected to them. Co-playing video games with patients or watching as they play may help open the patient up to therapy. Although studies in this area have had small sample sizes, they show a remarkable potential. Adolescent patients who have had video games introduced to therapy have shown remarkable improvement in behavior, self-control and consistency of therapy visitation (Ceranoglu, 2010).
Prevention
One of the most promising studies on video games concerns the possibility of preventing the signature flashbacks related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in individuals recently exposed to traumatic stress. Holmes, James, Coode-Bate, and Deeprose (2009) theorized that since cognitive resources are limited, monopolizing these resources with a video game may prevent flashbacks. Since flashbacks are visuo-spatial, they used a visuo-spatial video game (Tetris) to inhibit the generation of mental images in participants exposed to a mildly traumatic video. The subjects who played the game had fewer flashbacks than those who did not. Additionally, unlike in some PTSD sufferers, the memory of the traumatic event was left intact and accessible. Circumspect application of video game play may prove effective in preventing PTSD.
Discussion
Video games, like any other form of entertainment, are a double-edged sword. While certain games can increase the aggressive inclinations of males to an extent, they also have many useful and practical applications. The outer limit of these applications has not yet been reached, and there is much research yet to be done.
Suggested Research
As mentioned earlier, video games’ effects on males and females are different. This difference needs to be fleshed out in research, as its cause may lie in the distinctiveness of the genders. It might be worth pursuing to see if sex role, sexual identity or orientation play a role in these effects. The effects of exposure to video games on adults have not been well-researched. With the environment and culture available on college campuses, this may be an ideal location for such tests on more emotionally, ethically and developmentally mature participants.
Too few games exist for the purpose of teaching. Games that engage the player in a fun experience while learning could be developed and tested. These games could be created to complement any subject from history to algebra, and researched in a learning environment.
The research in the field of patient care is also lacking. With both psychotherapy and physical therapy, larger samples- with more treatments (either repeated measures or experimental vs. control groups)- are required before a firm decision on games’ usability in a therapy setting can be determined. There are other disorders that may benefit from the physical activity and distractive effects of games.
The good that video games can do far outweighs the bad, especially with the judicious content choices of parents for their children and adolescents. Games can be a worthwhile pastime in themselves, but with thoughtful employment, they can be much more than simply entertainment.
Positive Effects of Video Games: An Alternate Perspective
Video games may seem to be the bane of the modern world. The fact that many intensely coveted games are very violent leads to the assumption that the playing of such games produces individuals who are themselves violent (Teng, Chong, Siew, & Skoric, 2011). Video games’ effect on the human psyche is a field that has not been extensively researched, although it has been the topic of hours of media coverage and speculation (Wei, Toh, & Huang, 2009). With all the hype, it seems as though these video games are the media’s latest “bane of society” boogeyman. Is gaming really as irredeemable as the media portrays?
Games in the Media
Media appears to focus exclusively on the negative, and the research that has been done seems to confirm every parent’s worst fears. Allowing one’s child to play the newest Call of Duty, Mario Party or Final Fantasy game, claim these reports, will ruin said child for life. Games have been correlated with increased aggressive thoughts and behavior (Carnagey & Anderson, 2005) as well as making children more prone to delinquency (Hopf, Huber, & Weiß, 2008). Another study has shown that an individual’s attitudes toward acceptance of violence do increase from regular exposure to violent video games, especially in males (Teng et al., 2011).
Considering all this researched and verifiable data, it seems that the final, damning nail has been hammered into the coffin of video games’ potential as a worthy and reputable pastime. Do games have anything constructive to offer society?
Types of Video Games
There are different types of interactions one can expect in a particular video game: pro-social and neutral games as well as antisocial/aggressive/violent ones. The studies mentioned above correlating video games with violence have focused mainly on violent game types. This data cannot be extrapolated to suggest that the other types are likewise detrimental- neutral and pro-social games are not as harmful to social interactivity as are the violent type.
There are also many different classifications of games available to the interested player: first-person shooter, puzzle, turn-based strategy, real-time strategy and role-playing comprise a hardly exhaustive list. Many of those who play games enjoy several different types. Numerous games combine two or more classifications and all have separate classification and type (e.g. first-person shooter/violent, puzzle/pro-social, etc.)
Pro-social Gaming
Pro-social games require the player to cooperate either with another player or character in order to accomplish game objectives. Greitemeyer and Osswald (2010) researched how people react to social situations after playing pro-social, neutral and aggressive games; they found that playing pro-social games increases the likelihood that a subject will help with a social task, such as helping someone pick up spilled pencils, intervening on the behalf of a harassed woman or volunteering for an unpaid project.
What if games are used as devises for family bonding? As the generation who grew up playing video games has children of their own, co-playing becomes a valid family activity (Coyne, Padilla-Walker, Stockdale, & Day, 2011), and many games have multi-player modes that allow for parents and siblings to play along. Coyne et al. (2011) conducted a study on teenagers who co-played with their parents. The teenaged girls were found to have greater access to pro-social thoughts, less internalization, and a more positive filial relationship overall from co-playing video games in a family setting, while co-playing appeared to have had little effect on their male peers.
This brings up an important point: in many studies on the effects of video games- especially of the violent variety- on children and teenagers, girls are lumped together with boys. They are often tested together against a combined-sex control group, as in the Teng et al. (2011) study mentioned earlier. In that study, it was mentioned that “males…were more likely to endorse attitudes towards violence than females”. This wording suggests that statistically, female attitudes towards violence did increase from playing violent video games. Running an independent t-test on the data given in that study, one finds that attitudes towards violence are not significantly different, t (77) = .448, p = .65, two-tailed. Girls who played violent video games (M = 2.43, SD = .64) do not have more accepting attitudes towards violence that those who played a neutral game for the same amount of time (M = 2.37, SD = .55). Both this study and Coyne et al. (2011) demonstrate that researchers should not combine data for males and females- especially adolescents- together when studying the effects of video games. It may even be suggested that males and females should be studied separately, as they do not react similarly to playing video games.
Learning
Aside from the social aspects of gaming, approaches to learning can benefit from video games. Learning occurs whether the intention to learn is present or not (Reisberg, 2009). An anecdotal example: 28-year-old Paxton Galvanek, upon witnessing a car crash, pulled a pair of strangers from their vehicle and performed proper first aid (Cavalli, 2008). Mr. Galvanek had never had any formal medical training or experience- instead, he had logged hours of playing America’s Army, a video game that features realistic first aid and combat medic training. Whether he had intended to learn these skills or not, he did learn them and was equipped to put them to productive use when confronted with a crisis situation.
Education.
Studies have also shown that learning occurs efficiently in video games. Repetition of a gaming task (Hamlen, 2012), hands-on involvement and consistent and immediate rewards are all known motivators of deep cognitive processing (Reisberg, 2009), and are strong points of the video game learning experience. These factors may encourage learning where traditional teaching systems fail (Mayo, 2009). Students may be spurred to seek information from learning venues outside the game- such as books, websites or a teacher- to solve in-game problems. Games might also spark an interest in or love of fields currently in demand, such as science, mathematics or technology (Mayo, 2009).
As the technology of the medical field advances, so too must those who practice medicine. There are already procedures available that utilize apparatuses with controls similar to game controllers- colonoscopy and laparoscopy, among others (Wikipedia contributors, 2012). Additionally, the same skills honed in video games (visuo-spatial tasks, hand-eye coordination, reaction time, etc.) are essential for medical professionals, especially surgeons (Kato, 2010). Games have been developed that help lead medical students in learning how to recognize symptoms and manage patient care options. These games will help them perform better in internships (Kato, 2010).
Patient Care and Therapy
Patients who feel disconnected from their treatment are less likely to continue care (Ceranoglu, 2010). Young patients are especially at risk, as no treatment can be considered “fun” (Kato, 2010). Video games can help bridge the gap between need and desire, motivating children and adolescents to understand their illnesses and comply with their treatments (Kato, 2010).
Hospital Care
Video games can also be utilized to help doctors enable patients (especially young patients) to manage their medical care. Video games have been shown to be able to distract patients from the side effects of various treatments (Kato, 2010). Many treatments and procedures are known to have adverse effects- chemotherapy from cancer causes nausea, anxiety and pain; preoperative children are known to have an increase in anxiety ; and patients who are undergoing burn care experience a significant amount of pain (Hoffman et al., 2008). All the subjects tested with video games were children, who have very little to keep them occupied in a hospital environment, as well as being confined in a finite space. Additionally, cancer patients often have low energy (Kato, 2010) and burn treatment patients must minimize their movements in order to receive burn debridement, which can be a painful procedure (Hoffman et al., 2008). Video games require little energy or motion, and can help distract patients from their circumstances by giving them another environment to project themselves into. In separate studies, it was found that commercial video games are more effective in distracting patients and thereby reducing the perceived pain, nausea and anxiety that frequently afflict young cancer patients than non-digital (e.g., books, board games or television) distractions and was more feasible than therapy (Redd et al., 1987; Vasterling, Jenkins, Tope, & Burish, 1993). Hand-held video games distracted preoperative children from their anxiety just as well as sedatives (Patel et al., 2006), and a custom-made video game proved effective in distracting the burn patients from their debridement (Hoffman et al., 2008).
Self-Care Instruction
Many chronic illnesses have management procedures that can be cumbersome until they become habit, especially for children (Kato, 2010). By involving children in their own care, they increase their own knowledge of their disease and become empowered in its treatment. Custom-made games such as Packy and Marlon for juvenile diabetes (Brown et al., 1997), Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus for asthma (Lieberman, 2001) and Re-Mission for cancer (Kato, Cole, Bradlyn, & Pollock, 2008) put patient self-care information into a game format, where it is more easily accessible to children and adolescents. These games have been found to be effective in increasing patients’ understanding of their illness and increasing the likelihood of forming good habits, such as consistently taking their medicine (Brown et al., 1997; Kato et al., 2008; Lieberman, 2001).
Physical Therapy
Stroke victims often find themselves partially paralyzed. In order to regain this lost muscle control, they must regularly attend physical therapy (Saposnik et al., 2010). This exercise can become tedious and costly. With the advent of motion-based interfaces for console gaming, these activities can be sourced to the home, making them a one-time purchase cost instead of the session plus travel to the facility costs of physical therapy. Stroke victims showed a significant improvement in motor function by using a motion-based game, comparable to those who engaged in more traditional therapy methods (Saposnik et al., 2010). With the variety of games available commercially- which allows a player to select for his or her interests- this is a viable alternative to regular physical therapy.
Psychotherapy
Video games can be useful in psychotherapy as well. Older children and adolescents are often difficult for therapists to reach (Ceranoglu, 2010). Counselors can use video games to access the thoughts of these recalcitrant patients. Counselors have long used toys or board games to help patients feel more connected to them. Co-playing video games with patients or watching as they play may help open the patient up to therapy. Although studies in this area have had small sample sizes, they show a remarkable potential. Adolescent patients who have had video games introduced to therapy have shown remarkable improvement in behavior, self-control and consistency of therapy visitation (Ceranoglu, 2010).
Prevention
One of the most promising studies on video games concerns the possibility of preventing the signature flashbacks related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in individuals recently exposed to traumatic stress. Holmes, James, Coode-Bate, and Deeprose (2009) theorized that since cognitive resources are limited, monopolizing these resources with a video game may prevent flashbacks. Since flashbacks are visuo-spatial, they used a visuo-spatial video game (Tetris) to inhibit the generation of mental images in participants exposed to a mildly traumatic video. The subjects who played the game had fewer flashbacks than those who did not. Additionally, unlike in some PTSD sufferers, the memory of the traumatic event was left intact and accessible. Circumspect application of video game play may prove effective in preventing PTSD.
Discussion
Video games, like any other form of entertainment, are a double-edged sword. While certain games can increase the aggressive inclinations of males to an extent, they also have many useful and practical applications. The outer limit of these applications has not yet been reached, and there is much research yet to be done.
Suggested Research
As mentioned earlier, video games’ effects on males and females are different. This difference needs to be fleshed out in research, as its cause may lie in the distinctiveness of the genders. It might be worth pursuing to see if sex role, sexual identity or orientation play a role in these effects. The effects of exposure to video games on adults have not been well-researched. With the environment and culture available on college campuses, this may be an ideal location for such tests on more emotionally, ethically and developmentally mature participants.
Too few games exist for the purpose of teaching. Games that engage the player in a fun experience while learning could be developed and tested. These games could be created to complement any subject from history to algebra, and researched in a learning environment.
The research in the field of patient care is also lacking. With both psychotherapy and physical therapy, larger samples- with more treatments (either repeated measures or experimental vs. control groups)- are required before a firm decision on games’ usability in a therapy setting can be determined. There are other disorders that may benefit from the physical activity and distractive effects of games.
The good that video games can do far outweighs the bad, especially with the judicious content choices of parents for their children and adolescents. Games can be a worthwhile pastime in themselves, but with thoughtful employment, they can be much more than simply entertainment.